


Perfect

by redtribution



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Anonymous prompt, F/M, Fluff, Keenler - Freeform, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 06:52:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3758593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redtribution/pseuds/redtribution
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ressler proposes to Liz. For an anonymous prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect

Had it really been six months? To Liz, the time had flown by. From their first date, to their first night together and now to…well, she wasn’t going to jump to conclusions.

Don held the passenger’s side door to his truck open with nervous hands. Liz recalled him coming into her office that evening after work, seeming absentminded.

“Liz. Hey,” he said, wrapping her in a hug and planting a kiss on her forehead. Liz pulled back from him, an amused expression in place.

“Someone’s distracted,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Kiss me for real,” she implored.

Don smiled, his eyes still distant. He swooped in and planted a swift, hard kiss on her lips. “Come on,” he said, “I want to take you somewhere.”

Now, as Liz climbed into the passenger’s seat she had a feeling she knew exactly what was coming.

Don’s fingers tapped nervously on the steering wheel as he drove. Liz tried to strike up a conversation, only to find that he was too antsy to focus. She couldn’t suppress a smile as she watched the way he bit at his pink bottom lip. Don never could hide how he was feeling. It was the thing about him that made her feel most safe.

The car turned a corner, and Liz tensed in her seat. The road that stretched before her was all too familiar. She hadn’t been here in years.

Don parked his truck on the curb, and came around to Liz’s door. He held it open for her, but Liz didn’t get out.

“Don,” she said quietly, “what are we doing here?”

The façade of the home she used to share with Tom stared down at her. The windows had the vacant look of human eyes. Liz couldn’t suppress a shiver. Some of her worst memories had taken place inside the walls of this monstrosity.

Liz looked back at Don, her discomfort apparent. Don sighed, and his shoulders relaxed. He stepped up to her, wrapping his arm around her to unbuckle her seatbelt. He grabbed her hand and took it in his, staring imploringly into her eyes.

“Do you trust me?” he asked. His green eyes danced with sincerity.

“You know I do,” Liz answered.

“Then come on,” he said. Taking her hand, he led her from the car. Together, they walked up the front steps of Liz’s old home. When they reached the top, Don let go of her hand.

“Wait here,” he said. Liz furrowed her brow as he walked down the steps. This was not going at all as she had expected.

Don turned around on the bottom step. He shifted his weight from foot to foot before closing his eyes for a brief moment, steadying himself. When he opened them, he was focused, present. Forever the agent.

“Liz,” he began, stepping up to the second step. “This is where I saw you for the first time. I was like ‘who is this gorgeous girl, and what is her deal?’” He smiled, then, Liz’s favorite smile. It was the one that stretched more to the right than the left.

“But then I got to know you. And at first, let’s be honest, I thought you were kind of a bitch.”

“Hey!” Liz said.

“Shh,” Don admonished her, “I’m telling a story!”

Liz rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“As I was saying: I thought you were kind of a bitch. But then,” he took another step, “I worked with you. Every day, I got to see you, talk to you, watch as you solved case after case. And I realized,” step, “how lucky I was that Cooper put you and I on this taskforce. Because if he hadn’t, I would never have gotten to know you, and I…” Don trailed off. Liz watched as his eyes wrinkled at the corners; saw the slight shudder that passed through his body. “I couldn’t live never having met you. I don’t know how I lived before you.”

Don shook his head, as though clearing it of water “sorry, I wasn’t going to say that. You know, words aren’t really my…” he looked up at her, helpless.

Liz’s heart sped as their gazes intertwined. “Go on,” she said breathlessly.

Don stepped up to the next step. “You know how much I love you. I tell you every day. But what I don’t think you know is just how much my life has improved since you came into it.” Another step. “You know my quirks; you know that I’m a loner. You know that I don’t have many friends, that I have trouble saying,” he cleared his throat, “how I feel,” he muttered, glancing at the ground. Liz giggled. He glanced up, then, and his face split back into a smile. He took a confident step toward her. “But you…you don’t care. You love me anyway. And before you…there wasn’t anyone like that. No one I’ve been with before has made me feel like you—I’m getting off topic.”

Liz’s smile stretched wider. That was her Don.

“Anyway. What I mean is that you’ve brought something new into my life. You’ve made me feel really at home for the first time in really forever. And that—I can’t ever repay you for that.” He stepped up. He was on the ninth stair now, just below the porch. “But I’d like to try,” he said quietly.

Liz could see every freckle on his face standing out in sharp detail against the flush of his cheeks.

“When I thought about bringing you back here, I wasn’t sure if it was right. I know this place holds a lot of pain for you, and that’s something that I can’t erase. I hate that. I hate when you hurt and I can’t…but then, I thought, what better way to wipe away old memories than to create newer, better ones?”

Don stepped onto the porch. Keeping his eyes on Liz’s face, he took a knee. He wobbled a little bit on the descent and Liz giggled, tears clouding her eyes. She could barely see as he pulled the little black box from his pocket.

Don cleared his throat. “Elizabeth Scott Keen,” he began. “Will you m-marry me?”

The tears building in Liz’s eyes welled up and broke, streaming down her face. Her voice was lost somewhere in her joy. Unable to speak, she smiled the widest she had in years. She nodded, vigorously, knowing she must look a mess, but it didn’t matter.

Don took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. There would be time to examine it later. Liz couldn’t wait any longer. She knelt and took Don’s tie in her hands. Pulling him close, she kissed him. It was long and slow and grateful and full of unspoken promises. Don wrapped his arms around her and they leaned up against the railing, breaking off the kiss in favor of a long embrace. Liz looked up at Don. His cheeks glittered with tear tracks.

“Oh, thank God for you,” He said, looking heavenward. Liz placed a hand on his cheek, finding her voice for the first time.

“I love you,” she told him. Don swallowed and nodded. Liz was careful with her “I love you’s”. She had only ever told him that three times in the entire time they had dated.

“I know,” he whispered. “I love you, too.”

Liz leaned her head against his shoulder. They were a tangle of limbs, but she didn’t care. This moment, this right here, was truly the happiest she had ever been.

Of course she should have known it wouldn’t last.

The door of the old house opened with a creak. Liz jumped, and she and Don whipped their heads around to stare at the portly woman standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, her eyes slitted. “This is private property!”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Don said, rising from his position on the ground. “We were just—”

The woman stepped to the side. Without warning, an enormous Dog burst through the door, barking at the top of his lungs. Don let out a yell and grabbed Liz, half-tripping down the stairs as they raced to the car.

“You didn’t check to see if there was anyone living there?”Liz shouted as they raced to Don’s truck.

“No! Why would they care? We’re just—”

“—Kissing on her front porch is what we were doing. I can’t believe you didn’t—”

They broke apart as they reached the truck. Don raced around to the driver’s side, and Liz mirrored him around the passenger’s. They tore open the doors and tumbled inside in unison, and Don turned the key with a vengeance. The Dog scrabbled at Liz’s door _(“Damn dog’s gonna scratch the paint,”_ Don muttered) before they pulled out and sped away.

As they rounded the corner, Liz began to laugh. Don, on the other hand, maintained a surly expression.

They pulled over on the side of the road a few blocks away.

“That didn’t go how I wanted it to,” Don said, looking down at his hands grumpily. Liz was aware that her state of mirth probably wasn’t helpful. She gained a hold on herself.

“No,” she said quietly, taking his hand. “It was perfect. _You’re_ perfect.” She wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and pulled his mouth to hers.

Don leaned his forehead against hers, eyes closed. “No,” he whispered, “I’m not. But you…you make me want to try.”


End file.
